Method of and apparatus for marking shoe-upper sections



Aug. 16,1927. v c. E. EDWARDS 1,639,332

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MARKING SHOE UPPER SECTIONS F110;; Dec; 15. 1926 jmsossms gi TRIANJFER\P-APER /7 46 22 C/m/ems ELMER EDWARDS,

attozweq Patented Au 16, 1927.

v, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES ELMER EDWARDS, OF MANCHESTER, .NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOB TO 0. ELMER EDWARDS 00., INC.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MARKING SHOE-UPPER SECTIONS.

Application filed December 15, 1926. Serial No. 155,068. I

My invention relatesto a method of andv apparatus for marking the sections of material used in the manufacture of the upper of shoes.

6 As is well known, fine shoes, particularly ladies shoes, frequently have their uppers made in part or whole of fabric such as velvet or satin. It is customary to stitch ornamental designs on the outer or right side of 10 the fabric. The present method of working these designs upon the fabric upper sections is to provide a stencil with the design and trace the design from the stencil by a penor pencil, upon the wrong side of the fabric.

I Attempts have been made to trace the design upon the right side of the fabric but this is I not the general practice as difliculty is experienced in erasing or removing the des1gn and the fabric may be injured. The application of the design to the fabric by means of tracing the same from a stencil is time consuming and expensive and it is difiicult for the operator to follow the design when it is applied to the wrong side of the fabric.

In accordance with my invention, I provide a preferably metallic plate and form thereon an embossed pattern of the desired character. The embossed attern is made up of a number of lugs or osses which are punched from the material of the plate. This embossing plate is used in connection with the fabric to be marked, such as silk or satin and is applied to the wrong side of the fabric, the right side of which 1s placed upon a sheet of transfer paper, similar to carbon paper, but having a suitable color which will be apparent upon the surface of the fabric. The embossing plate, fabric and transfer sheet are placed in a press and subjected to suitable pressure whereby the pattern will be formed upon the right side of the fabric. In a similar manner, the embossing late and the transfer sheet may be employ to mark white or light colored leather. These markings may be readily erased.

The embossing plate may also be employed in placing marks upon dark leather, and when this is to be done, the embossing plate is arranged upon the grain side of. the leather and they are put in a res and sub'ected to suitable pressure. The lugs or osses. produce indentations or depressions in the eather, without breaking the grain. As the gra1n of the leather is not broken, the markmg w ll disappear from the leather after the stltchmg or by suitable folding or working of the leather.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the elements of a press, showing the embossing plate and associated elements arranged therein,

Figure 2 is a detailed section through the dies of a punch which is used in making the lugs or bosses on the embossing plate, I

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the embossing plate, section of the shoe upper and a transfer sheet, showing them in the superposed relation,

Figure 4 is a detailed section through'the lugs or bosses of the embossing sheet,

Figure 4 is an enlarged detailed section through one of the bosses, and,

Figure 5 is a side elevation of the right side of a fabric shoe upper section.

In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, the numeral 10 designates the stationary base of a press and 11 the vertically movable plunger arranged above the same.

Slidable upon the base 10 is a carriage 12, adapted to be shifted beneath the plunger 11. The plunger 11 hasits lower side lined with a block 13, which is formed of rubber having fabric inserted therein. This block is suitably resilient and still, to produce the desired pressure. Any suitable means may be employed to move the plunger 11 toward .the base 10, and as any suitable form of press may be used, it is unnecessary to describe the press further.

The carriage 12 is preferably formed of cast iron, and rollers 15 are pivotally connected with the opposite ends of this carriage. One roller carries a roll of transfer paper 16 which extends across the carriage and is adapted to be wound u on the other roller 15,'as it is used up. his transfer paperfis similar to carbon paper but its coatmg is preferably softer than the coating of carbon paper so that the transfer is made more readily. The transfer paper will have its coating of a suitable color to be readily distinguished from the color of the fabric upper, to be marked, and I preferably emplc a color. which is readily visible under artificial light such as when brought close to an electric bulb.

The numeral 17 designates an embossing plate, which is referably" formed of galvanized iron. T is embossing plate is made .in the. shape of the upper shoe section to be marked. In the present illustration, the invention is explained by marking a quarter, but, of course, the shape-will vary when other upper sections are being marked. Further, the embossing plate being of the same shape and size as the quarter 18, "to be marked, the edges of the embossing plate will coincide with the edges of the quarter and the pattern or marking will, therefore, be properly located upon the quarter. The numeral 19 designates the pattern which it is desired to produce upon the quarter18. This pattern is formed upon the embossing plate 17 by bending or punching out lugs or bosses 20, Figure 4. This is accom lished by passing plate 17 through a punc illustrated in Figure 2, wherein 21 designates the male die and 22 the female die. The lugs or bosses are formed in succession and are equidistantly spaced and of a. uniform length. The length of the bosses W111 vary slightly depending upon material to be marked. A thicker fabric having a greater compressibility may rezpllire longer bosses. When marking leat er, t e bosses must be of such a length that they will produce indentations or depressions in the grain side of the leather, without breaking the grain. In order that the lugs or bosses may operate satisfactorily in marking satin and velvet upper sections and leather upper sectlons, the bosses should have a length of .031 to .035 of an inch although the length may be varied somewhat and satisfactory results obtained. The lugs or bosses, Figure 4, have their ends 26 completely closed, and the material of the metal is not broken at the ends of the bosses as this would be disadvantageous. These lugs or bosses, Figure 4', are generally conical and taper toward their free ends. I have found that in order to successfully stamp or press these bosses that one side of the same should be made straight, as indicated at 23, while the opposite side of the boss has a slight curve, as indicated at 24. 25 is a vertical line drawn through the point 26 of the boss, which point is slightly rounded at its end. distance between the line 25 and the base point 27 is slightly shorter than the distance between the line 25 and the base point 28. This distance, and

the slight curve in the side 24, provides for sufiicient metal to form the boss without breaking the metal at' the point 26. Fur-f ther, I have found by actual tests'that these.

bosses stamped or pressed in this manner will not war ordistort the sheet 17 which occurs if the osses are stamped as true cones. The larger area or curved side of each boss,

while it is being stamped, is arranged next bosses must be arrangedin'close relation.

However, where the bosses are farther apart,

satisfactory results may be obtained by forming them conical.

The male die'element 21 and the female die element 22 are at first formed of annealed high speed tool steel which is relatively soft. accurately shaped to produce the precise shape and size of the boss 20 and a conical recess of substantially the proper size is formed in the female die. is now. subjected to a hardening process and is subsequently pressed into the female die, which accurately shapes the cavity of the female die, to match the shape and size of the male die, after which the female die is also hardened."

The bosses are punched one at a time in succession, and the curved sides having the larger area are formed next to the unpunched portion of the plate. As a result of this, there is suflicient metal to prevent the metal breaking at the points of the bosses, and the greater portion of the metal is taken from the unpunched portion of the sheet, in the direction in which the pimching is proceeding. This prevents the previously punched portion of the sheet from warping -or puckering, and the unpunched portion is sufiiciently strong to resist puckering or warping.

In the practice of the method, the transfer paper 16 is arranged upon the carriage 10, formed of cast iron or the like, with its The male die member is first The male die 21- yielding block 13 engages the top of the embossing plate, and'uniformly distributes the pressure. Inthis manner suitable res? leather, the leather quarter or the like is arranged between the embossing plate and the transfer sheet, with its grain side preferably engaging the coated side of the transfer sheet, and pressure applied to these elements, with the result that the attern is transferred upon the grain side of the leather. The pattern can also be transferred upon the opposite side of the white leather, if desired.

In marking patent leather or black calf leather, the transfer sheet may be dispensed with and the grain side of the leather arranged uppermost, in the press, in contact with the bosses of the embossing sheet, and pressure applied to the same. The bosses produce indentations or depressions in the grain side of the leather without break ng the grain. This produces a marking which is readily visible but which will disappear after the stitching or whichmay be wholly removed by folding or working the leather adjacent to the depressions.

While the invention has been explained or illustrated in the placing of an ornamental design upon the upper section, yet it may also be used for producing other marking, such as lines for indicating lap, stitching, or guide points, or for any other desired indications, used in the production of shoes.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention, herewith shown and described,- is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit.

of my invention, or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. The method of marking shoe upper sections formed of fabric or leather and made in a definite size and outline, comprising placing an embossing plate of substantially the same size and outline and having boss orbosses upon one side of the shoe upper section so that the boss or bosses contact with the shoe upper section and matching the edges of the embossing plate andshoe upper.

section, placing a transfer sheet in contact with the opposite side of the shoe upper section, the arrangement being such that the transfer sheet leaves the shoe upper section and embossing plate uncovered so that the matching of their edges may be effected, and

subjecting the elements thus assembled to .the action of pressure through, the medium "ofan elastic member.

2. The method of marking shoe upper sections having a finished face and formed of fabric or leather and made in a definite size and outline, comprising supporting a transfer sheet with its transfer face uppermost,

placing the shoe upper section upon the transfer sheet with its finished face in contact with the transfer face of the transfer sheet, placing an embossin plate of sub stantially the same size an outline as the shoe upper section and having bosses upon the upper side of the shoe upper section so that the bosses contact with the shoe upper section and matching the edges of the emboss ing plate and shoe u per section, the arrangement being such t at the transfer sheet leaves the shoe" upper section and embossing plate uncovered so that the matching of their edges may be effected, and subjecting the elements thus assembled to the action of pressure.

3. The method of marking shoe upper sectlons having finished faces and formed of fabric or leather, comprising placing thev finished face of the upper section in contact with the transfer face of a transfer sheet,

placing the boss or bosses of an embossing plate upon the opposite face of the upper section, said boss or bosses having their contactlng portions so shaped that they are adapted to laterally creep upon the face of the upper section, and subjecting the elements thusassembled to the action of pressure through the medium of an elastic member,"s aid elastic member permitting of the creeping actlon.

4. The method of marking shoe upper sect1ons having finished faces and formed of fabrlc or leather, comprising placing the finished face of the upper section in'contact with the transfer face'of a transfer sheet,

placing the tapered bosses of an eml ossing plate upon the opposite face of the upper section, one side of each boss being straight and the opposite side curved, the base of the curved side being arranged a greater distance from a line perpendicular to the face of'the plate and passing through the center of the reduced and of the boss than the base of the straight face, the curved side having a greater area than the straight side, the curved sides being alternately arranged with relation to the straight sides, the bosses bemg adapted tolaterally creep in contact with the upper section, and subjecting the eleher, said elastic member permitting of the creeping actlon of the bosses.

5. The method of marking shoe upper sections having finished faces and formed of fabric or leather, comprising rigidly supportingoa transfer sheet with its transfer being so shaped that they. are adapted to face uppermost, placing the upper section eree laterally upon the unfinished face, and with its finished face lowermost in contact app ying ressure to the elements thus aswith said transfer face of the transfer sheet, semble'd' t rough the medium of an elastic arranging an embossing plate above the unmember, said elastic member permitting of finished face of the upper section, said emthe creeping action of the bosses. bossin plate having tapered bosses. contact In testimon whereof I afiix my signature. ing with said unfinished face, said bosses 0 ES ELMER EDWARDS. 

